HellBlazer Issue 53 (from Bloodlines collection)

Something Fishy · 23 January, 2009, 09:48:46 PM

I'm just reading this and was surprised to see the story it gives behind Jack the Ripper is pretty much exactly the same as Moore does in "From Hell".

Just wondering, are they both taken from a source story or is one of them copying the other?

TordelBack · 23 January, 2009, 10:03:42 PM

Moore's [spoiler]Royal Baby / Masonic Surgeon[/spoiler]Ripper theory isn't original, as he is the first to point out, and nor does he necessarily believe it to be 'true' - IIRC he ascribes it to fellow weirdy Stephen Knight. The appendices and epilogue to From Hell 'Dance of the Gull Catchers' explores the development of the various theories, a[spoiler]nd suggests that the 'point' of From Hell are the core cold facts of the murders, and the effects they have on people, media and society, right up to the present day. I'm not clear if the 'Fourth Dimension Ripples' theory is his.[/spoiler]

Something Fishy · 23 January, 2009, 10:08:49 PM

Thanks for that. Interesting.

I was just looking at the Wiki funnily enough. I need to read that collected edition, the notes sound fascinating.

Seems that they had both read the same source but Moore ran with it and expanded upon it far more.

satchmo · 23 January, 2009, 10:09:47 PM

The Michael Caine TV Mini-series and the Sherlock Holmes vs The Ripper film Murder By Decree are pretty much identical too, I think they all come from Stephen Knight. And there was a bloke who pretended to be Walter Sickert's descendant involved, but later claimed he made it all up. (IIRC)

satchmo · 23 January, 2009, 10:11:50 PM

Reading the collected From Hell in it's entirety, including the footnotes, is one of the greatest reading experiences I've ever had in my life.

Something Fishy · 23 January, 2009, 10:13:49 PM

Thanks, I'll get hold of that Satch.

TordelBack · 23 January, 2009, 10:27:28 PM

Quote...but later claimed he made it all up.

Ah yes, but did it all come true anyway?

satchmo · 23 January, 2009, 10:57:20 PM

(Seeing as the second hit on google for the great artist Walter Sickert is that nutter Patricia Cornwell calling him The Ripper, yes.)

I, Cosh · 24 January, 2009, 12:28:40 AM

Quote from: "satchmo"Reading the collected From Hell in it's entirety, including the footnotes, is one of the greatest reading experiences I've ever had in my life.

Couldn't agree more. He's already got a thread to himself, but Tiplodocus lent me this and I must salute him for it. The second read was the best; Moore really understands the old-fashioned art of the rambling footnote which can be erudite, whimsical or downright brutal but is best appreciated for itself, the reader having gotten the gist from a previous scan.